Tiger Creek
by crossroadswrite
Summary: Dean's shrink always tells him he has to accept his reality. Well, his reality is that he got out of jail, he has an awesome job at Tiger Creek, a crazy smart brother, a makeshift family and a dead best friend. Everything is sort of alright except for the fact that suddenly his best friend comes back from the dead and Dean doesn't know what else to do with himself. (Human AU)
1. Chapter 1

**WARNINGS:** Mentions to past attempt of suicide, apparent major character death, general violence, drug abuse, acohol as a coping mechanism.

**A/N:** Updates will come every two weeks on Friday. Fun fact: Tiger Creek is an actual place in Tyler, Texas. Here you have their official site, go check out the tigers: .com

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Dean always had a fascination with tigers. He remembers when he was about three years old and his mother led him by the hand through the zoo, pointing at the different animals and prompting Dean into saying their names. Smiling brilliantly when he got them right and correcting him softly when he got confused.

He remembers how she had led them to the tiger area, the dirty floor that covered it from one side to the other, circled by a high metal fence. He remembers seeing their calmness as the tigers lounged in the floor not giving a shit about everyone around them. He remembers seeing one of those big cats get up and easily jump to one of those playgrounds that the zookeepers set up with tires and large wooden frames. It was imprinted in his mind the way it had done it, like he couldn't be bothered and then he had lay down, head held high as he surveyed everything around him. His eyes landed on Dean and by that point he was so awed with the animals that he was pretty sure he had gasped.

His mother had laughed at him then, soft and happy, covering him in kisses. They had stayed looking at the tigers for the best part of the next half hour before his mother made him get moving with promises of pie.

Dean guesses that that was the prelude to this. If there was any significant point in his lifetime that directed him precisely to this job and this city, that had been it.

Right now, he's watching one of the big cats prowling around in his habitat, in the Tiger Creek sanctuary, just outside Tyler, Texas. Sam was one of the first to be admitted and all about him exudes self-earned confidence, like the place is his to take and if someone says something about it he'll be more than okay to rip their arms off with as much as simple blink.

Also Dean had a fucking hoot in calling his brother and making _hilarious_ jokes about lion mane and shit, practically earing Sam bitchfacing at him through the phone.

Sam circles the grounds eyeing the females and letting a low rumble tumble out of his massive throat when one of the younger ones tries to approach him.

Dean throws an enormous piece of steak through the fence, letting it fall near Sam. The older lion eyes it with interest and hurries to get his muzzle around it.

Dean can see the other tigers starting to head for it, when he tosses various pieces of steak along and over the fence, so there's enough for everyone, allowing their assortments of territory and minimizing the damage that they'll have to handle afterwards.

When some of the cats got really into each other's business it had been necessary to sedate them and tend to it, which was all around unpleasant because everyone around Tiger Creek knew that Dean was the best shot of all of them, so he got delegated weapon duty, and for him there was nothing worse than the sickening feeling he got in the pit of his stomach when he aimed at the animals and pressed the trigger.

Jo, in her khaki shorts and shirt approaches him slowly, a lazy smile playing on her face.

"Heya Jo." He greets politely.

"What's up knucklehead?" Jo greets playfully.

"Watch it Harvelle. Just because you're my cousin now, doesn't mean I won't kick your sorry ass." He throws at her with a light smile.

Jo snorts "I'd like to see you try, Winchester." She punches him lightly in the arm and Dean reciprocates in kind.

Jo punches him again, a little bit harder and Dean grunts "What do you want?"

"As much as I'd love to let you stare creepily at the tigers, I have to interrupt. Bobby asked if you want to come around and have some dinner. He said he fished something out of the salvage yard and if you're a good boy, he'll let you get your hands on it. Also you're on tour guide duty tomorrow for a bunch of snotty kids. Two teachers coming along as well."

Dean snorts "Yeah, I'll come around for dinner. What's dinner by the way?"

"Dunno. Mom said you'd like it though. And before you ask, yes, there's pie."

Dean beams at her "Joanna Beth I could just kiss you."

Jo rolls her eyes at him and smacks him in the arm again "Don't call me that."

And just for that, Dean leans over and places a sloppy kiss on her cheek, slobbering her face a bit. Jo makes a disgusted noise and quickly wipes her cheek.

"Dude, gross. How did I ever had a crush on you?!"

Dean winks saucily "No one can resist the Dean Winchester charm." One of the tigers roars behind him and Dean smiles again "See, she agrees with me."

"Douchebag!" Jo offers back "Are you driving me home or what? My pick-up broke down this morning and Bobby had to drive me."

"Sure." Dean shrugs, starting to walk towards the main building. Jo follows.

"And if you're taking me there you can stay all afternoon, or what's left of it. We can watch Dr. Sexy M.D. or some other shitty show you like."

"Dr. Sexy is a great show." Dean shoots back automatically "And I can't Jo. I have a thing." He says uneasily.

Jo turns serious "A shrink thing or a parole thing?"

Dean sighs and he really wishes he didn't have to answer that "A shrink thing."

Jo nods "I guess being someone's bitch in jail can mess you up."

Dean scoffs and throws Jo a dirty look "I wasn't anyone's bitch. I could shank you for that Joanna Beth. I can make a weapon out of your own hair." He threatens.

If Jo was anybody else making a joke about his time in jail, Dean would've punched her in the face by now, but this is Jo and she doesn't mean real harm.

"Are you shitting me Winchester? I could take you any time-" Dean swifts Jo off her feet and throws her over his shoulder as she shrieks and punches him in the back "What the ever-living fuck, Dean! Put me down before I hurt you."

Dean ignores her and continues walking, entering the main building with its organized space, the potted plant in a corner, a few waiting chairs, flyers and souvenirs everywhere and one of those round desks in the center.

He dumps Jo on the desk and smiles broadly at the look the kid behind it gives him.

"Here's a little something for ya." He says to the kid, Kevin he thinks, and walks away with Jo spluttering and jumping from the desk. She follows him and punches him in the shoulder as hard as she can and ouch- that's gonna hurt tomorrow.

"You little shit." She growls, rushing past him through a door which says AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY and entering the locker room, quickly changing clothes.

Dean laughs at her and slips out of the hideous shorts, because he _doesn't do shorts_ but apparently it's part of the workplace policy and he can't just wear jeans all the time.

He makes quick work of getting dressed and waits for Jo to finish, so he can drive her home.

"Ready to go?" he asks when she finally comes out.

"Yeah, shithead. Drive me home."

They both cross the parking lot, getting into Dean's baby, whose Dean had been neglecting a little bit lately with all the work he'd been getting, alternating between the sanctuary and Singer's Salvage yard. He coos at her a little bit, stroking the steering wheel until Jo makes a disgusted face and asks if he needs five minutes with his car and some paper tissues.

Dean throws her dirty look and kicks the car into gear, easing it into the highway and driving towards the city.

He cranks up Metallica when the tape starts and sings along a little bit. Jo complains about something her mother had said, while snooping around Dean's car.

Dean lets her because he forgets, and it isn't until the glove compartment pops up and Jo falls quiet that Dean remembers it.

She reaches over and takes the little bottle of pills, throwing a worried look at Dean. He sees her twist the bottle in her hands and read the label.

Dean sucks a sharp intake of breath because he knows the lecture that follows this.

"I thought you were getting better." Jo says calmly, looking disappointed.

"I _am._ Those are a doctor's prescription, Jo."

Jo shakes the bottle in his face "These are anti-depressives, _Dean._" She throws back accusingly.

Dean grips the steering wheel hard, making his knuckles turn white due to the lack of blood flow. Jo has absolutely no place in judging Dean, and he has to grit his teeth and resist the urge not to tell her to fuck off, because he knows deep down, the part of him that his rational and does the therapy exercises, that she only complains because she cares.

"So? It's not like I'm and addict or anything. I just need those to keep me up."

And just why in the fuck should he be justifying himself?! It's his godamn life and since everything he touches seems to die, he is entitled to some fucking prescription drugs to let him pull through it.

"Does Sam know about these?" and isn't that a cheap shot. Completely below the waist, Joanna Harvelle.

Dean grips the steering wheel a little tighter "Jo, drop it."

"I just-"

"I'm serious Jo." He interrupts "I've been going to fucking therapy and I've let the fucking shrink poke around my brain. I've been good. No bar fights or anything. So just let this fucking go or I'll stop the car and let you drag your ass the rest of the way home." He threatens.

Jo sighs heavily, and tucks the pills back in place.

"I just don't want this to end like last time."

Dean swallows hard and lets the guilt swallow him, as he looks at Jo's troubled face. And shit, he made Jo upset.

"It's not like last time." He whispers, and it's really not. He's serious when he tells her he's doing better.

"I can't do that again, Dean. I can't just sit around in a hospital and wait to see of the doctors can pump all of the poison that you swallow down with whiskey."

Dean pressed his lips together and slackens a bit his hold on the steering wheel. He reaches over, a palm against the back of Jo's neck, thumb stroking softly. It's more of a brotherly gesture than anything else.

"I'm better Jo. Seriously. That won't happen again. Promise."

Jo nods, but keeps her eyes looking at the road ahead of them. She sighs heavily and shakes her head.

Yeah, at least he's actually trying this time.

«»

Missouri looks up at him from her notepad and glares, pointedly looking at the knee Dean's been bouncing for the past ten minutes.

"Sorry." He mutters, looking back down.

The woman is scary as shit.

"What's wrong, honey?"

Dean smiles a little bit at the moniker. For all the shit that Missouri gives him, she cares for him and he's pretty sure that he's one of her favorites.

"I had a fight with Jo." He says, voice barely above a whisper.

Missouri lifts an eyebrow and waits for him to elaborate.

"About the medication. She thinks I'll jump off the deep end again."

Missouri stares at him some more, not saying a word and Dean's knee starts to bounce again.

"I'm not going to fall over the deep end. I'm not." He assures her, or maybe he's trying to assure himself. Either way he won't do it again.

"How many of those did you take today?" Dean flinches, and shit he can swear the woman has some sort of psychic powers or something.

He wiggles in his sit uncomfortably. "Two."

Missouri shakes her head almost imperceptibly and asks the million dollar question "Why?"

Dean has to keep himself from snorting because that's about standard issue for psychologists and in some way every time she asks him why or counters one question with another he has to fight the need to snort at her.

"Because." He answers feeling five years old all over again.

"Dean Winchester do not give me that attitude boy. I know you since you were in diapers. Don't make me whack you with a spoon." She threatens.

Dean shrinks further into the soft couch and not for the first time thanks whatever higher force that Missouri prefers hosting his appointments in her living room where everything is familiar and there's always a cup of tea in the coffee table in front of him.

"I thought I saw him." He whispers "Earlier, I thought I saw him." He swallows and looks down because he's crazy. There are absolutely zero chances he could've seen him.

"Oh, honey." Missouri sighs sympathetically "When you loose someone it's common to see them everywhere. Your heart is not ready to face the fact that they're no longer with us."

Dean nods along with her words. Although he doesn't agree with them, because he has a sharp vision and it's been years since it happened. Sure he was driving and it had been fast. Just a mess of dark hair and the sweep of a tan trench coat entering a building.

"Dean." Missouri sighs, tiptoeing the fine line between patience and impatiently throwing a spoon at Dean's head "You have to face your reality. Maybe it'll help if you say it out loud." Missouri prompts him.

He turns his head to the side, looking out of the window. He hates this part so fucking much. So fucking much! But Missouri makes him do it every appointment and that means that twice or thrice a week Dean as to _accept his reality_.

He huffs a breath heavily and watches the scenery. The kid riding his bike down the street, the trees in Missouri's front yard and the green grass covering it.

"Do you want me to mow your lawn?" he asks suddenly "Because I could do that. Easy-peasy. Wouldn't charge anything. And you can't let the grass get too tall because it'll-"

"Dean!" Missouri looks annoyed and sad "You have to say it. It's been years, baby. You can't keep hanging on to that. To him." Dean clenches his fists and for a moment he's really tempted to storm out of Missouri's house, but he doesn't. He makes himself remain in his place and breathe slowly through his nose.

Because even though Missouri makes him do shit like this, he knows that's the best for him. That it helps. In the begging, when he had gotten out of jail, he couldn't even force himself to leave the house. Not when everything outside reminded him of all the shit that God or fate or whatever the fuck had taken away from him. Missouri helped him then. Guided him, patiently waited for him, yelled and smacked him around when he needed to. She's the reason why Dean has an amazing job studying big cats and she's the reason why he can get up in the morning and she's the reason why his life is back on the tracks, sort of.

Missouri pulled him up even when he pumped his stomach full of pills and waited for them to take him away.

Missouri knows what's best.

So he takes a deep breath and unclenches his fists.

"My name is Dean Winchester. I'm in Tyler, Texas and it's" he glances at the grandfather's clock on the opposite wall "seven thirty in the afternoon. I got out of jail about a year and a half ago. My mother died when I was four." He swallows hard "My father passed away while I was in jail. Cas-" his voice cracks; his hands start to shake, and he wills them to stop. Swallows down hard, past the lump in his throat "Castiel was murdered at the same time I got arrested." He breathes through his noise and carefully erases the signs that he's lying before he says the next thing "It wasn't my fault." He breathes slowly "I was bad, but I'm better now. I've got a job and Sammy and my baby and my family here. I'll be okay."

Missouri nods approvingly and gives him a pained smile "I know you don't like this, honey. But you have to understand that it is how it is. I hate to be the one that has to tell you this, but Castiel isn't coming back and I know how much you cared about that boy, but sometimes bad things happen to good people. That's just how it is."

Dean stays quiet and nods, hands already hitching to reach for the bottle on the glove compartment and swallow two more pills, but he knows he won't. He has Sammy to think about and Jo and Bobby and Ellen. And he'll have dinner with his little borrowed family and have fun.

And he'll forget about how he got his best friend killed.


	2. Author's Note

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **

Hello there, I am very sorry to infprm that this wil be on hiatus. The thing is: I was doing acrobatic gymnastics and deslocated my arm. I am currently wearing a cast thar imobilizes my entire left arm, and since I can't write as fast with only one hand, I won't be able to keep up with my schedule, therefore chapters will be really _slow_ into coming.

Once again, I'm really sorry, but the cast'll come off on the 24th and luckily I'll be able to return to my schedule. Which actually sucks because I was planning on doing NaNoWriMo this here and that's waaaay too close to November. Mixing up with my exams and all. . . Maybe I''l just quit on NaNo or something.

Thank you for your comprehension and my hand is exhausted.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hello, my lovelies. I wanted to inform that I have almost full function in both of my arms so I can write again! Those are the good news. The bad news are that I am doing NaNoWriMo this year for the first time so I'll be on hiatus during the entire month of november and the first week of december. Thank you for understanding and I'm really sorry.

Also beware that everything in italics are flashbacks.

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_Dean rolls his eyes, throwing one arm over his little brother's shoulders._

_"Whatever you say, Sammy. I still think that she's got the hots for ya." He leers at him, waggling his eyebrows suggestively._

_Sam huffs at him and throws his arm off his shoulders._

_"Ruby doesn't have the _hots_ for me, Dean. We're just friends." He protest._

_"Riiiiight. You need to face it Sammy. That girl wants to get in your panties. She practically sat on your lap at lunch."_

_Sam snorts "Yeah, because you and Cas sit at such a respectable distance from each other. Tell me Dean do you want to get into Castiel's pants too?"_

_Dean trips over his feet and blushes "Shut up, Sammy. Me and Cas are friends. You know that."_

_"Right." Sam drawls "It's not like you spend every single waking minute having eyesex with each other- oh, wait! You dooooo."_

_Dean grunts and glares "Whatever I don't like Cas like that. And how did we end up talking about me and Cas. Let's get back to you and Ruby."_

_"Seriously Dean." Sam stops him in his tracks, standing in front of him with his books clutched to his chest "You're still in denial."_

_""I'm not in denial. Me and Cas are just not li-"_

_"Oh, hey Cas." Sam interrupts, looking over his shoulder._

_Dean's head snaps back so fast that he probably pulled something. His eyes skim the streets behind them expecting to find a mess of dark hair and a pair of the bluest eyes, but the one thing he finds his an old lady with a walker complaining to her husband about the weather and how it's making her knees ache._

_Dean turns slowly around, putting every single thing he has in the glare he sends Sammy's way._

_"You fucker." He growls while Sam laughs at him._

_"_Me and Cas are not like that."_ He parrots making a poor impression of Dean's voice._

_"Fuck you very much, Sammy." He says turning on his heels and walking towards the Impala, leaving Sam to try and catch up._

_"Oh, come on Dean. You have to admit that you have the hots for Cas. I mean, you spend almost as much time with him as you spend with me, maybe a little more and that's saying something." Sam complains, catching up with him and getting into the passenger seat._

_Dean starts the car and cranks up Zeppelin as loud as it'll go, ignoring Sam as he drives on._

_He grips the steering wheel tightly and stares right ahead ignoring completely his brother. He's fucking pissed at Sammy for pulling this shit. In part because he knows Sammy's right and he hates it when Sam's right._

_"Where are we going?" Sam asks suddenly, when Dean misses the turn to their house._

_He purses his lips and his hands twitch nervously on the steering wheel._

_"I promised Cas I would pick him up." He mutters._

_"What?" Sam asks, brows furrowed as he tries to decipher what Dean just said. He probably couldn't hear him over the loud music._

_Sam reaches for the radio and lowers the volume "What was that?"_

_"I said: we're going to pick up Cas."_

_Sam gives him a smug look and Dean has to bite back the need to flip him the bird._

_"Whatever. His family is driving him crazy and he needs to get out of that stuffy house more. I swear to God he's the palest dude in all of Texas." Dean shakes his head fondly._

_"Dean-" Sam starts, looking at him in earnest with those big puppy eyes and shit he's going to try and have a moment won't he?_

_"No chick-flick moments Sam." He interrupts before his brother can start talking about their feelings or whatever._

_"But Dean-"_

_"I said quit it Samantha. If you want to braid your hair and talk about boys while taking Cosmo quizzes, I'm sure you can do that with Ruby." He bites, because seriously he's so not having this conversation with his baby brother. It's bad enough that Sam found out that Dean is an equal opportunist when it comes to his sexuality but Sammy has to push him in this Cas business too._

_Dean grimaces when he remembers how Sam had found out. Poor kid would be scarred for life. Finding your brother with his pants down and his hand down some guy's pants was not something little brothers were supposed to see. Poor kid hadn't managed to look Zeke straight in the face since then._

_Sam huffs from his seat and crosses his arms and maybe Dean went a little too far right there._

_He reaches over and ruffles Sammy's hair "Come on dude. You know that Cas has the whole nut-job super religious family thing going on. He's scared shitless of his older brothers, not to mention his father." Sam opens his mouth, but Dean quickly gives him a hard look before he continues, returning his eyes to the road "And even if he was interested – which he's probably not – I can't make it harder to him just because I get a little hot under the collar when I see him."_

_Dean heaves and heavy sigh because fucking Sam pretty much made him have a chick-flick moment just by pouting at him. Fucking little brothers and their puppy eyes._

_"What if it wasn't a problem?" he asks quietly "What if Cas' family didn't mind and Cas was, uh, ready or whatever?"_

_Dean gives him a one shoulder shrug "Then I guess we could give it a shot, maybe. But you know what Sammy? If you keep thinking what ifs then you're screwed. You just gotta make do with the hand life dealt you and bluff and bullshit your way through it with a mean poker face until you can make it your bitch."_

_Sam rolls his eyes "As always I'm astounded with your eloquence and wisdom."_

_Dean snorts "Take it while you can, 'cause when you go to college, you'll be a big shot lawyer and marry a nice girl and we'll only talk once a week and on holidays and you'll come over with your wife and your two point five kids smelling like fresh cut grass and money." Dean told him and Sam rolled his eyes again, that hopeful look washing over his face. The same one he got every time Dean talked about him going to college like it was a sure thing. Like they could make it happen even without his dad's support. Well, Dean was pretty invested in getting his little brother in college, even if he had to quit high school and take that job with Bobby in the salvage yard._

_Dean makes a right on the next street and enters the expensive part of the city; from there it's only a couple minutes until they get to Cas's house. A big fucking mansion all painted pearly white with a garden that was cut by some landscaping architect or some shit._

_He parks in front of it and honks loudly receiving a mortified glare from Sam who looks around nervously to see if there are people looking at them._

_Dean laughs at his little brother and cracks Zeppelin back up, receiving Sam's patented what-the-fucking-shit-did-you-lost-your-fucking-mi nd look or how Dean liked to call it Bitch Face nº5._

_He ignores Sam's complains and swats his hand away when he tries to lower the volume down._

_He looks towards the house just as the front door opens and Castiel comes rushing out with his messenger's bag throw over his shoulder, a smile appearing on his face when he spots Dean parked there in his baby._

_Cas quickens his pace a little bit, until he reaches his baby, throwing open the back door and getting in._

_"Hello, Dean." He all but shouts over the music "Sam." He says turning to his little brother and nodding his head once._

_Dean smirks "Heya, Cas." He screams back, smoothly starting his baby up again and hearing her purr satisfyingly before making a u turn and heading back the same street they had entered. It was one of those fancy streets that ended with a big ass mansion and old dude that liked to yell at kids to get the fuck out of his lawn._

_It's only when they're at a respectable distance from Cas's house that he lowers the music back to a respectable volume, looking back at Cas with the biggest smirk._

_"So," he starts "did your family get upset by my redneck badboy ways?" he asks teasingly._

_"Oh, most definitely." Cas says excitedly because for all his talk one of Cas' (and admittedly Dean's too) favorite past times is too rile up Mr. and Mrs. We-have-Noah's-walking-stick-up-our-asses "You should've seen Michael's face." He grins at him "Gabriel laughed his ass off, he even gave me his candy." Cas says with as much awe as someone would talk about a polar bear hugging a seal._

_"Whoa? Gabriel gave you candy. That's a first." He laughs "How's the little shit anyway?"_

_"He's good. He's got a new girlfriend. Khali, I think."_

_"Yeah I know who you're talking about. Chick's fucking scary, figures she'll be just up Gabe's alley."_

_Cas grins and nods his head, leaning back against his seat and sighing deeply, like he just got home after a hard day's work._

_Dean smiles at the sight through the review mirror "So, you ready for some pizza and Star Wars marathon?"_

_"Sounds like just what I need." Castiel replies and Dean smiles a little wider while Sam is looking at him disbelievingly._

_Dean decides to continue ignoring him and drive, adjust the volume and sneaking glances at the blue eyed guy in his back seat._

«»

Dean drives to Bobby's calmly, singing Zeppelin absent mindedly as he goes, fingers tapping the beat against the steering wheel.

He and Missouri had talked a little bit more until it was time for Dean to leave. They'd parted with a warm motherly hug from Missouri's side and a piece of her to-die-for apple pie. Dean had his mouth watering just from the scent that came from the little lidded box in the passenger's seat. Having a piece of treasured pie also meant that he couldn't drive too fast, afraid he'd ruin it.

So he drove slowly through the city, trying his best to stop thinking about anything that could possibly trigger one trip to the bottle of magic friends that he still had stashed in the glove compartment.

When he finally arrives to Bobby it's progressively getting darker outside, the street lamps lightning up and showing him the way to Bobby's driveway.

After he married Ellen, she'd made him move to a decent house with her instead of staying in his old house in the middle of the junkyard. "I won't have the ceiling falling on my head while I cook your god damned chilly Bobby Singer, so you're moving in with me and that's final." She had said one day, and after that Bobby had grumbled a bit and obeyed because honestly Ellen could be a scary lady when she wanted to, which was almost all the time. Good thing that it was one of the things that Bobby liked best in her.

Dean parks his car carefully and maneuvers himself out, juggling the pie in one hand and closing the door with the other.

He pats his Baby and smooths his thumb over the roof whispering softly a "Be right back, sweetheart."

"Dean." Ellen greets him throwing the door open and moving to remove the pie from his hand before he can even get out a 'hi' "What the hell took you so long boy?" she asks chastising.

Dean shrugs and gives her that one crooked smile that he knows she secretly loves "I had a thing. I told Jo 'bout it. Ain't my fault she forgot to tell ya."

Ellen rolls her eyes at him and presses her lips together to prevent from smiling.

"She told me, I just didn't think you'd be cooped up in there for so long." She throws back, her expression getting serious and Dean knows by heart what's coming next, he's so used to it that it almost causes a sense of déjà vu "How you doin'?" she asks calmly.

"I'm good, Ellen. She even gave me pie and everything and that's as good as a golden star."

Ellen presses her lips again, this time in apprehension and moves forward to hug him. Dean lets her because it's in equal parts for her and his benefit.

"You're such a huggy bear Dean-o." Jo teases from somewhere in the house.

Dean lets go of Ellen abruptly and enters the house with a "Joanna Beth get your ass in here."

Jo laughs when he enters the living room "What up, can't take light teas-"

Dean advances towards her with a smirk and before she can even finish her sentence, he hugs her, lifting her feet of the ground and twirling her a bit. And Jo honest to God shrieks right in his fucking ear and okay, ow.

He squeezes her tightly until she hugs him back "You know you're just proving my point don't you Winchester."

He snorts "Shut up Harvelle. You're loving this."

Dean lets her go, putting her back on the ground with a smile and ruffling her hair a little bit. Jo kicks him for his trouble.

"Now that you're done with the love fest maybe you could get your ass in the kitchen and actually help around boy. Some people have real jobs ya know that."

"Hey! I have a real job." Dean objects moving to the kitchen and throwing the cupboard open, taking out four plates.

"Playin' with cats all day don't sound like a real job to me." Bobby bitches at him, handing the silverware over and a pile of napkins.

"Aw, are you missing me at the shop. That it Bobby?" He teases "If I knew you were so needy I'd stay with ya."

"Idjit." Bobby grunts and Dean makes his strategic retreat to the dining room which is actually connected to the kitchen, since Ellen had thrown the wall separating the two divisions down.

He sets the plates down and passes the silverware to Jo, before he stars folding the napkins in neat triangles.

Ellen brings a steaming tray of lasagna to the table and Dean practically drools all over it, before Ellen snaps at him and tells him to "just take a piece for fuck's suck Dean Winchester you look like a godamned dog".

Dean obeys readily, wolfing it down and filling his plate two more times before Ellen tells him he's going to get fat and eaten by one of his tigers.

Dean stops eating the lasagna and moves to Ellen's and Missouri's pies - apple and strawberry –receiving a snort from Bobby and a disgusted sound from both the Harvelle women.

It's good, spending time with this little makeshift family he got for himself, seating down together at a table where everyone trusted everyone and you didn't have to watch your food for hidden razors and broken glass.

They joke and talk and it's the best Dean felt in a long while. Ellen asks about Sammy and when can they see him again and he tells her that they'll probably see him when he finally finds the balls to pop Jess the big question.

And then, after they clean up the table and Dean gives a hand doing the dishes, Bobby leads him to the garage and flicks on the light, presenting a banged up motorcycle in one corner of it.

Dean sucks in a sharp breath and moves forwards carefully, running his fingers through the handlebars and grinning like a madman.

"Bobby. You shouldn't-"

"Shut up and just take it, boy." He snaps, coming closer and patting the beauty on the side "Missouri talked to me. She said it might be good for you to have a project besides that zoo of yours. This was just rotting away in one corner of the salvage yard after some knucklehead banged her up."

"She's gorgeous." He breathes taking in the aspect of the bike in front of him. It's more than a little banged up. The paint is peeling in places and it has dents peppering her here and there. Dean'll have to give her a more thorough look to see what's wrong with her insides and honestly he can't wait "Harley Davidson softail FLSTFI Fat Boy." He says reverently, like a prayer.

"'04 model." Bobby nods.

"Do you two want a room." Jo teases behind them, peeking over Dean's shoulder and sighing deeply when she sees the gorgeous "Harley Davidson?" she asks and nods her head to herself when she sees the logo in the gas tank "You gonna let me ride her. When she's ready?" she asks hopefully, doing her best impression of Sammy's puppy eyes.

"Maybe." Dean is still basking in the glory of the piece of machinery in front of him.

_"We could get bikes, run away from my crazy ass family and travel around. Maybe ge a pick-up truck for when it rains." Cas had said dreamily "I'd get a Harley Davidson Fat Boy. Blue. Or maybe red."_

Dean smiles fondly when he remembers, still stroking the beauty.

"Cas' favorite bike." He whispers and he can practically feel the air around the room snap and everyone tense up, waiting for him to break down and he can't say how proud he is of himself when he only smiles wider.

"Bobby" he says "you're awesome."

The tension in the room eases up again and Jo beams at him proudly, giving him one armed hug.

"When it's done, I'm totally stealing it." She promises with a smirk.

Dean snorts "I'd like to see you try."


End file.
